Is Captain Paul Watson the Tyler Durden of the High Seas?

I watched a few episodes of Whale Wars recently and felt the same sickening feeling I felt when watching Fight Club for the first time. It’s the feeling of being seduced into doing good only to realize it feels oh, so bad.

Let’s take a look:

The premise is strong -- Killing whales is wrong.

The case is strong -- Japanese whalers are using a loophole in international law to hunt whales in a sanctuary. “What a bunch of assholes. Let’s get ‘em!”

Things start out great -- A young, naive crew follow their captain to “actually doing something about” these senseless killings because bureaucracy doesn’t save whales.

Righteousness seeps in -- “Our subversive actions are justified NO MATTER WHAT because we are always right and they are always wrong -- no matter what.”

Ummmm...okay, but...isn’t that the same circular logic employed by radical fundamentalists around the world? Does that thinking actually promote progress?

Then the whole thing smells like shit -- The Captain shames members of his crew for not being willing to risk their lives for the cause and (IMO) fakes being shot by the japanese whalers (a brilliant publicity stunt).

I appreciate his willingness to do almost anything to save whales (anything except what he’s asking his crew members to physically do -- this guy is no Captain James T. Kirk), but somewhere something got lost. Credibility? Dignity? Integrity?

Do these character qualities matter when the cause is seemingly bigger than the man?

What do you think? Is Captain Paul Watson the Tyler Durden of the high seas?

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